The present invention relates to security systems and the prevention of computer theft. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a method and system for effecting a security system upon multiple portable information devices.
The type and variety of compact and lightweight portable information devices (PID""s) has burgeoned in recent years. The availability of these items to the average consumer has placed tens of thousands into use and into all aspects of one""s business life and daily life. The presence of these devices has become common in the home and office, on the streets, in shops and restaurants, and in places of travel. The development of new devices and the creation of hybrids of previously existing devices will undoubtedly cause their numbers and prevalence to continue to grow.
Portable communication and computing devices have evolved rapidly and substantially. Wireless communications systems have grown from the analog systems used mainly by the military and the police to the various forms of analog and digital wireless communications available today. The devices which support these communications have evolved from the heavy and bulky portable radios used by the military, to the relatively large walkie-talkie units developed in the 1960""s, to the compact and lightweight cellular phones and pagers being used today. Portable computers, first introduced in the 1980""s, have developed into ever smaller form laptop computers. and these have been followed by the creation of the handheld Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
Recently various wireless communications protocols, such as the Bluetooth, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), Home RF (Home Radio Frequency), HiperLAN (Hiper Local Area Network), I.E.E.E. (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11a and 802.11b protocols, have been developed to provide standardized methods for establishing low-to-medium power, short-to-intermediate range radio frequency (RF) communications between RF enabled devices. The incorporation of these protocols with various electronic devices and communications applications is just beginning to be explored. Handheld organizers and wireless laptop computers are enabled to communicate remotely with the Internet. Wireless LAN""s (Local Area Networks) eliminate the need for cabling devices together.
Business travelers often carry multiple personal information devices. A laptop computer may be accompanied by a separate external wireless modem. Cellular phones and/or pagers are commonly carried, and the usage of PDA""s is just beginning. Families or groups of travelers may collectively carry a large number of such devices.
The availability of these devices for theft and the possibility for inadvertent abandonment is substantial. A laptop left briefly unattended in an airport becomes an easy target for theft. PDA""s, pagers, cell phones and other personal electronic devices can be easily concealed and stolen or they may simply be put down by their owners, forgotten, and left behind.
Various means for providing article security and for monitoring and tracking objects are known in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,486 describes a three part security access system where the proximity of two units is necessary for gaining access to a secured area. Loss of proximity of the second unit relative to the first unit prevents access to the secured area and can also be cause for an alarm to be sounded by the first unit. However, the monitoring of multiple units where any one may be lost or become disabled is not taught.
In additional example U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,517 describes a system for selectively detecting the presence of a plurality of objects in proximity to a person. The approach described therein consists of the attachment of a transceiver emitting a locator signal to each of multiple xe2x80x9cchildxe2x80x9d items in need of monitoring, and the establishment of a receiving xe2x80x9cparentxe2x80x9d unit for monitoring the locator signals from all the child items. Though monitoring of multiple units is addressed, the parent/child structure of this art provides for no awareness or monitoring capability between the various child items should the parent unit be removed, lost or disabled. Additionally there is no provision for additional items to be added into the monitoring scheme in a remote and automated fashion.
The growth in the widespread business and consumer use of portable information devices has created a need for a method and system to deter the theft and prevent the loss of such devices. Such a system needs to accommodate a multitude of devices and have the robustness not to be defeated by the loss or removal of any one device. It would be additionally advantageous for the system to be easily expandable so to provide for multiple users to combine their PID""s under one common security system thus allowing each user to be made cognizant of a loss or theft of device by any other party. The invention described herein provides for such a method and system.
The invention disclosed is a method and system for effecting a security system upon multiple devices. The invention provides for multiple devices to respond as authorized members of a security web such that each device acts as a co-monitoring device within the web. The invention is particularly well suited for deterring the theft and preventing the inadvertent abandonment of various portable information devices such as PDA""s, cellular phones, laptop computers, pagers and other personal electronic devices comprising gaming devices, digital cameras, mobile access devices, digital camcorders and mp3/walkman players.
To effect the security web each device is provided an encoded and identifiable RF transmission signal and additionally provided an accounting of all other devices within the security web and their signals. The devices are enabled to communicatively connect to every other device within the security web by way of RF signal transmission, detection and reception capabilities embedded in each device. Each device transmits an identifiable RF signal at regular time intervals and each device is enabled to search for the transmitted RF signal from every other device within the security web.
In conjunction with providing to each device originally comprising the security web an encoded and identifiable transmission signal, an authorization process allows for devices to be remotely removed from the security web and for new devices to be remotely added into the web. Devices which leave the proximity of the security web without having first removed themselves from the web""s coverage, in the web authorized fashion, would be considered as having a non-authorized loss of proximity.
The security web determines a non-authorized loss of proximity from the web of any of the devices of the web and can do so in a user determined variable fashion. In one embodiment, the loss of signal from a device by at least one other device or a particular device determines the loss of proximity to the security web. In another embodiment, the non-receipt of transmission signal from a device by all other devices of the security web determines the loss of proximity to the security web. For a device not having been removed from the security web, the loss of proximity is determined to be non-authorized and the invention provides for at least one of the devices of the security web to initiate an event. Events initiated by the security web are inclusive of the sounding of alarms, the flashing of displays, the deactivation of devices, and/or any other functionality that may be available upon the device.
In another embodiment, the Bluetooth wireless communications protocol is employed upon the devices comprising the security web, wherein the devices are all Bluetooth enabled and inclusive of PDA""s, cellular phones, laptop computers, pagers and other personal electronic devices comprising gaming devices, digital cameras, mobile access devices, digital camcorders and mp3/walkman players. Although the Bluetooth Link Management structure is of a Master/Slave type structure, the security system effected is of a device co-monitoring, web type structure. Upon the loss of a Bluetooth Link Management Master, one of the remaining members of the security web immediately reestablishes the security web and acts as the new Link Management Master.